72 Hours
by Challenger2011
Summary: A normal day goes awry when Airachnid manages to capture Bumblebee and Jack, posing a challenge to Arcee: she has 72 hours to find them before Airachnid kills them. While Arcee tries to find them, Bumblebee and Jack have to think of a way to survive.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers or any of the characters in it. **

**A/N: So this story just popped into my head the other day and I don't have much else to say about it except that it takes place during season 1 before 'Partners'. **

* * *

It was strange to Jack being picked up from school by Bumblebee instead of Arcee. It was also rather awkward considering the fact that Jack could not, and probably never would be able to, understand the scout's method of communication. It wouldn't have been much of an issue if Raf had been there to translate, but unfortunately for the two of them, Raf was out of town with his family, leaving an uncomfortable silence between the human and Autobot.

"So Arcee's out on a scouting mission?" Jack asked to break the silence.

Bumblebee gave a small beep as a reply, which Jack took to mean "yes". After that the silence returned and Jack found himself looking out the window. It was almost summer and that meant that school would be out soon. Jack was looking forward to being out of school. More time to spend with the Autobots and there was a smaller chance of running into Vince for a few months. He knew that while he wasn't the only one looking forward to summer vacation, there was one person in particular that was dreading it. And that person was Miko. Once summer arrived and school let out, Miko would have to go back to Japan until school started again and she could try to transfer back to Jasper. As much trouble as she could get them into, Jack still felt bad for her. Of course he should probably feel worse for Ratchet. Miko had been driving the medic crazy the past few days trying to convince him to GroundBridge her back during the summer so she could still hang out.

The sudden slamming of Bumblebee's brakes brought Jack out of his thoughts.

"Uh 'Bee, what's going on?" as soon as the words left his mouth Jack mentally slapped himself. It wasn't like Bumblebee would be able to tell him why they had stopped in the middle of the road.

Bumblebee opened up the door for Jack to get out. The teen wasted no time in getting out and as soon as he did a sick feeling washed over him as he saw what had stopped the scout. A spider web was wrapped around one of his back tires and Jack had seen a similar web before. A similar web had trapped Arcee and then later himself once and another time had held his mom captive. And then to confirm his suspicions the sound of an approaching helicopter, only drowned out momentarily by the sound of Bumblebee transforming, filled the air.

"Well what do we have here? It appears my trap didn't catch the Autobot I was hoping for," Airachnid said as she transformed and landed in front of the Autobot and human. Glancing down at Jack she added, "But I think I can make do with what I caught instead."

Bumblebee stepped in front of Jack, blocking Airachnid from snatching the human. He frantically looked around for somewhere that Jack could hide, but they were in a completely open area with only a desert and deserted road around surrounding them. Immediately he alerted the base for backup. But until that backup arrived though he was going to have to deal with Airachnid on his own. He remembered when he and Cliffjumper had rescued Arcee from the Decepticon back on Cybertron. It hadn't been much of a fight, she had run off as soon as he had started shooting, but he had heard from Arcee that the Airachnid was sneaky and used deadly tactics.

"_If you want him, you're going to have to go through me," _Bumblebee beeped out.

"If you insist," Airachnid quickly shot out a web that wrapped itself around the scout's body before he could even react – knocking him to the ground behind Jack.

"'Bee!"

"_Jack, run!" _ Even though the teen couldn't understand him, Bumblebee hoped that he would get the message while he tried to get out of Airachnid's web. If he let Airachnid get Jack, Arcee would kill him.

Jack tried to run away, but Airachnid was faster. Jack had only got a few feet away before she shot out a web that knocked him down onto the ground face first. He was dazed for a moment before becoming aware of the stinging on his face and the blood coming from his nose – no doubt he had broken it when he fell. Airachnid picked him up a second later with a sadistic smirk on her face.

"Don't worry Jack we're going to have a fun time together." Jack fixed the Decepticon with a glare which only resulted in her laughing before turning her attention to Bumblebee. "Now what should I do with you? You're hardly necessary for me to get Arcee, but the Autobots wouldn't want anything to happen to their precious scout now would they? I don't need any other Autobots getting in my way, so you're going to come with me as well."

* * *

Arcee glared at the spot where Bumblebee and Jack had last been, or more like glared at the small piece of Airachnid's web that lingered there on the ground. Bumblebee and Jack were just kids, and now that sadist had them. And who knew what she was going to do to them? Jack was her partner and Bumblebee was… no Airachnid didn't know about that, and if Arcee had her way she never would. A little further up the road was a few drops of dried blood. And she had a sick feeling that it was Jack's.

"Ratchet can you locate Bumblebee's position?" Optimus Prime's voice brought Arcee out of her thoughts.

"No," the medic shook his head. "His signal is being blocked."

"He's still alive," Arcee suddenly spoke. "Both of them are alive. I would know if they weren't."

And if was true. If Airachnid had killed Jack, she would be gloating to her at that very moment. The fact that she wasn't meant that the human still had to be alive. And she knew in her spark that Bumblebee was still alive. He had to be.

"You sure 'Cee?" Bulkhead asked.

Arcee did not hesitate when she answered, "Yes."

She gave one last look to the piece of web.

_If you've hurt either one of them Airachnid, I will kill you. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in it.**

* * *

Arcee paced the main room of the base. Optimus, Bulkhead, and Ratchet were all out searching for Bumblebee and Jack, and she had been left there per Optimus' orders. The Autobot leader had decided that it would be best for her to remain on GroundBridge duty instead of being out in the field with the rest of them. Arcee couldn't completely blame him for reaching that decision, she had not dealt with Tailgate's and Cliffjumper's deaths well, and the fact that it was Airachnid who had both Jack and Bumblebee meant that she was even more attached emotionally. There was a risk of her becoming compromised and, should the worst happen, she could be difficult to keep in control. But Arcee still felt like she should be out there searching for them. Bumblebee and Jack needed her and she couldn't abandon them like this.

The sound of an incoming transmission turned Arcee's attention towards the monitors. Her optics narrowed and she strained to keep the rage boiling within her under control when she saw that it wasn't from Optimus, Bulkhead, or Ratchet. It was from Airachnid.

"Where are they?" Arcee demanded to know when she answered the transmission.

"Where would be the fun in telling you that Arcee?"

"Where are they?" Arcee repeated.

"They're with me of course. If you want them back, you're going to have to come find them. I'll give you seventy-two Earth hours to find them before I kill them. Oh and Arcee, should you bring any other Autobots with you or should they come in your place, the scout dies."

Before Arcee could say anything else, Airachnid ended the transmission and turned her attention to her two prisoners. Both of them were trapped in her webbing and were currently glaring at her. She let out a small laugh before walking closer to them.

"_You're going to be sorry once Arcee gets here."_

"You had better hope that Arcee is the one that gets here," Airachnid said leaning closer to Bumblebee's face. "After all it is your life that is on the line. I wonder if the Autobots care enough about you to let her come alone."

Airachnid let the acid on one of her talons scar the left side of Bumblebee's face, much in the same way she had done to Arcee when they had first met, before finding his comm and letting the acid corrode through the part – effectively cutting off any way for the youngling to contact Arcee or the other Autobots and causing much discomfort to him as well. Once she was satisfied with her work she backed away and headed out of the section of the cave she was hiding in.

"When I come back we're going to have some fun," Airachnid called to Jack and Bumblebee before disappearing from their line of sight.

"'Bee are you okay?" Jack asked turning his head towards the scout. The cave was extremely dark, but luckily Bumblebee's optics was emitting enough light to where Jack could see his face. It sort of freaked him out being in the dark. He could see where Bumblebee was at, and when Airachnid was in the cave he could see where she was at, but he couldn't see what was happening.

Bumblebee remained silent for a moment before nodding his head. The feeling of acid corroding his comm and scaring his face was unsettling to say the least, but the pain wasn't too bad and even though his comm was now officially useless, he was fine. For now at least. Who knew what was going to happen once Airachnid got back. She said that they were going to have some fun, and Bumblebee knew that he didn't want to know what her version of fun was – because most likely it was going to involve a lot of pain for both him and Jack. Arcee would be looking for them, that Bumblebee was sure of, but he and Jack were going to have to think of a way to get out of here before Airachnid could do anything. But how was he supposed to communicate that to Jack? The only human who could understand him was Raf, and thankfully his human friend wasn't with them at the moment.

"'Bee is there any way we can get out of here before Arcee is able to find us? I think that whatever Airachnid does to us is going to be to torment her."

"_I don't know how we can get out right now, but I'll think of something,"_ Bumblebee said. He knew that Jack wouldn't be able to understand him, but Bumblebee needed to say it out loud for himself.

"What?"

Bumblebee let out a small warble in apology for not being able to give Jack an answer that he would understand. If Airachnid's web wasn't tightly wrapped around him, constricting his movement, he would have shrugged his shoulders as an attempt of saying that he didn't know. But then Jack probably wouldn't have been able to see that in the dark.

"It's okay 'Bee, I just forgot for a moment that you can't really answer me. We'll figure out some way to communicate."

Bumblebee nodded his head in agreement. They would figure out something and hopefully they would figure it out soon.

* * *

"Optimus she said that she would kill Bumblebee if one of you finds them instead of me. I have to be the one who goes to search for them," Arcee explained.

Optimus Prime mulled over the information that Arcee had just given him. They now knew, if Airachnid was telling the truth, that Bumblebee and Jack were still alive and were in Airachnid's possession. It was very likely that this was set up as a trap for Arcee. Optimus knew that there was a history between the two femmes and Arcee still wanted revenge over what happened to Tailgate. If something had happened to Jack or Bumblebee, there was no telling what she would do.

"Arcee going alone-."

"I only have three days to find them Optimus! If I haven't found them by then, Airachnid will kill them! And if one of you comes with me, she'll still kill Bumblebee. I have to go alone."

"Arcee none of us want anything to happen to Bumblebee or Jack, but we need to think of the best way to get them back."

"Me going alone is the only way Optimus. We're wasting time talking about this. Even if the three days aren't up, Airachnid will still try to hurt them. Bumblebee's already lost his voice and had to deal with Megatron living in his mind for a while, hasn't he been through enough? Now he and Jack are stuck with Airachnid. Searching for them can't wait. Jack is my partner and Airachnid will use that as a reason to torture him."

"And Bumblebee?"

"Airachnid doesn't know that he's my little brother, but that doesn't mean that she won't torture him along with Jack. I can't let either of them die like that."

"I understand. You can go look for them, only if you contact base to report your status to us and if you call for backup when you find Bumblebee and Jack," Optimus said.

"I will."

"Good luck Arcee."

With that Arcee transformed and drove out of the base. She was going to find Bumblebee and Jack, even if it was the last she ever did.

* * *

Jack and Bumblebee were still trapped in the cave when Airachnid returned. Bumblebee had tried to get out from the webbing that was trapping him, but had had no success. At the very least Jack was now able to somewhat tell the difference if Bumblebee was saying 'Yes' or 'No'. That was at least a small improvement to their communication problem, but not by much.

"No Arcee yet," Airachnid stated as she entered the room, "perhaps we should give her some motivation."


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Sadly I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in it.**

* * *

"What's taking you so long Arcee? I thought you would be here by now."

Arcee tried to ignore the taunting voice though her comm as she searched for the possible location of where Airachnid was hiding and holding Jack and Bumblebee, but Airachnid was trying to make that impossible for her. The sudden sound of Jack screaming in pain made her freeze in her tracks. What was Airachnid doing to him!

"A warning Arcee, the longer you take the more fun I get to have with Jack. And I'll make sure you get to hear every moment of it."

"_Leave him alone!" _ Arcee could hear Bumblebee shout.

A moment later it sounded like he was almost gagging and gasping in pain.

"What did you do to him!" Arcee demanded.

"I just shot a little acid where his voice box is, or what remains of it that is. It should keep him quiet for a little while. Hurry up Arcee. You don't want to keep us waiting."

Airachnid cut off communication then, leaving Arcee standing in silence. Acid going through his already damaged voice box had to be excruciating for Bumblebee and Arcee knew that pain had to bring up some memories that the youngling didn't want to remember. She didn't want to remember it herself.

* * *

_Arcee rushed through the hallways of the outpost to get to the medical bay. No one had told her what had happened, all she knew is that they had just found and rescued Bumblebee at Tyger Pax and that she needed to be in the med bay where Bumblebee was at. She could hear footsteps behind her and knew that Cliffjumper was trying to catch up – her current partner had worked with Bumblebee a few times in the past and they were friends, so he probably wanted to know if he was alright just like she did._

"_Arcee wait up."_

"_Sorry Cliff, but I need to be in there with him," she said pausing for a brief moment to let Cliffjumper reach her. _

"_I know you do 'Cee, but he's not dying, the medics would have told you if he was, so you can slow down just a little." _

"_What's the matter, can't keep up?" Arcee teased. _

"_Please 'Cee, I can beat you in a race anytime anywhere." _

"_And then 'Bee can beat you."_

"_Hey I almost had him last time! Now let's get in there so we can find out when I can have my rematch with him" _

_ When the two of them finally arrived in the med bay they saw Bumblebee laying on a medical berth in stasis. Various dents and gashes covered his yellow frame, and Arcee could see a scar along his neck. Ratchet was near his berth looking over a few scans and it took him a minute to notice the two new arrivals. _

"_What happened to him?" Arcee asked when Ratchet walked over to her and Cliffjumper. _

"_Megatron tortured him, ripped out his voice box, and then left him for dead. I'm patching him up and I can guarantee that he will live, but his voice box is beyond repair. I've done all I can do to fix it… I'm sorry." _

"_So 'Bee's never going to be able to speak again?" Cliffjumper asked. _

"_Did I say that! No, Bumblebee will not be able to speak like you and I. However he will be able to speak in shorthand. It is not the most effective form of communication, but it is communication nonetheless and it is the best I can do right now." _

"_How long is he going to be in stasis?" Arcee questioned. _

"_I'll take him out of stasis as soon as I'm finished with his repairs. If he doesn't handle the news about his voice box well, I may have to put him back into stasis until he calms down."_

"_I want to be here when you tell him." _

"_I know. Optimus is on his way here, he wants to be here when Bumblebee is told as well."_

_ That news didn't surprise Arcee in the slightest. Optimus Prime was like a father to Bumblebee, and herself, so it made sense that he would want to be there whenever Bumblebee found out that he wasn't going to be able to talk normally again any time in the near future. She walked over next to Bumblebee's berth and laid a hand on his head. She should have been on that mission with him. Maybe then he wouldn't have been captured and he would still be able to talk. It wasn't right that this had happened to Bumblebee._

* * *

A lot of the things that had happened to Bumblebee hadn't been right. He had saved Optimus from Cybonic plague and then Megatron had ended up inside his mind. And now he had been captured by Airachnid and she was torturing him and Jack. It wasn't fair to either of them. Airachnid was no doubt going to focus her torture on Jack, but Arcee knew that Bumblebee wouldn't just stand by and let that happen. He would try to draw her attacks away from Jack, which would result in him getting more damaged. Of the two of them Bumblebee would be easier to repair, but if he was too damaged it could be life threatening for him. Arcee was going to have to hurry and find them before that could happen. The only question was where to look.

Airachnid would want Arcee to find her, that she was certain of. She would want to see the look on her face when she tried to kill Jack before trying to kill Arcee as well. If that was the case she would have to be in a three day radius from the location where Jack and Bumblebee had been taken. She also would have to be hidden in a place where it would be hard for them to escape and where she could keep a close optic on them – a cave maybe? She tried to think if she had seen any caves anywhere around Jasper, but none came to mind. Of course it most likely wouldn't be in plain sight if that's where Airachnid was hiding. It would have to be hidden. Arcee sent a quick status update to base and asked Ratchet to search the scanners for any nearby caves. She didn't need to waste any unnecessary time. If Ratchet could find some caves before she could, then she could focus on searching them instead of trying to find just one. Arcee just hoped that she would be able to find them in time.


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in the show.**

* * *

Jack was becoming increasingly worried about Bumblebee. After the scout had finally stopped gagging from Airachnid's acid he had been completely silent. The human knew that the acid must have caused the Autobot a lot of pain – his own arm was still stinging from it – but every time that Jack asked Bumblebee if he was okay, the only answer he received was silent.

"'Bee please answer me," Jack tried again. "Are you okay?"

"_Y-ye-yes,"_ Bumblebee managed to beep out. Scrap he hadn't felt this much pain in his throat since Megatron had torn out his voice box! _"A-ar-are you o-okay?"_

"Maybe you shouldn't, umm, speak 'Bee," Jack said, not missing the expression of pain in Bumblebee's optics. The teen shifted a bit and noticed that the webbing trapping him wasn't as tight as it had been before.

Maybe if he could get them to loosen a bit more, he could get out. And then he could help Bumblebee get out of his webbing and they could escape. The only problem with the plan was Airachnid. The femme was currently gone and there was no telling when she could reappear. If she caught them trying to escape, Jack had a feeling that it would end badly for him and Bumblebee. But still they couldn't just stay trapped here. Arcee would come eventually, but how much more torture would he and 'Bee have to go through before then? It would be better for them to get out now and find Arcee.

With his mind made up, Jack started to wriggle out of the webbing while keeping a close eye on the area where Airachnid usually entered. After what felt like several minutes he was able to get his arms and hands free and started to work on trying to get the remaining webbing off of his legs. A few minutes later he finally got it off and he hurried over to Bumblebee. Immediately he started to tug at the webbing that was holding the scout hostage.

"Come on Bumblebee, let's get out of here."

* * *

It had taken them longer to get the webbing off of Bumblebee than Jack had expected and it was a miracle that Airachnid hadn't shown back up yet. Now all they had to do was find their way out of wherever they were being held. Bumblebee glanced around until he saw a small opening in the ceiling. It was too small for him to fit through, but it was large enough for Jack to get out. When the teen got out he could go get help – Bumblebee thought he could hold off Airachnid long enough for backup to arrive – all he had to do was communicate his plan to Jack. The scout lifted the teen up to the opening, which caused Jack to look at him in confusion. Bumblebee used his free hand to point at Jack and then at the opening, hoping that the human would get the message.

"You want me to go through there?" Jack asked to which Bumblebee responded with a nod. "But what about you?"

Bumblebee let out a small warble to indicate that he would be fine.

"I'll find Arcee as soon as I get out. I have my phone, but I don't have any service down here. As long as it's still working I should be able to call her as soon as I can get a signal."

The scout gave Jack a thumbs up before he crawled through the opening and out of his line of sight. Now he just had to wait for Jack to get Arcee. If he was lucky it wouldn't take long and by the time Airachnid returned, he'd be long gone. But as the sound of drilling filled the room, he realized that toady it seemed luck was anything but on his side.

* * *

Jack had dove behind a rock when he had heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. Airachnid was now drilling her way back down to where Bumblebee was still at. If he didn't hurry and call Arcee, the scout was going to be in deep trouble. He pulled out his cellphone and punched in the numbers as quick as he could. Fortunately Arcee answered after one ring.

"Arcee you have to get here fast!" he quickly said.

"Jack what happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Bumblebee helped me get out, but now Airachnid's back and Bumblebee is still trapped down there with her."

Arcee was silent for a moment before she responded, "Jack, I'm on my way. I'm having Ratchet send a GroundBridge for you. You're going through it, no arguing."

"Fine," he replied. He could tell by Arcee's tone that even attempting to argue with her would be a bad idea. While he wanted to stay to see that Bumblebee was fine, he figured that it would be better to put his partner's mind at ease for at least one thing. "Just be careful Arcee."

"I will be," Arcee promised as she sped off towards the location where Jack had called her from.

By the time she had got there, Jack was gone. She felt a small bit of relief knowing that her human partner was safe back at base and away from where Airachnid could get him, but that relief was overshadowed by the worry she currently had for Bumblebee. Arcee knew that as far as Airachnid knew, Bumblebee had no ties to her, and because of that the Decepticon wouldn't hesitate to make Bumblebee pay now that she no longer had Jack. Arcee jumped into the hole that led to the underground cave that Jack and Bumblebee had been held prisoner in. The first sight that greeted her was energon splattered across the floor. Whose energon it was she could only guess.

_Please be alright Bumblebee_, Arcee thought to herself as she brought out her blasters and continued to walk down the corridor.

"Well it's about time you got here Arcee."

Arcee spun around to see Airachnid standing behind her.

"Where's Bumblebee?"

"The scout? I've taken care of him," the sadistic smirk on her face sent chills through Arcee.

"What did you do to him!"

"Why don't you see for yourself," the femme gestured behind Arcee.

Arcee hesitated, but eventually turned around and walked in the direction Airachnid had pointed. She wanted to attack her foe right then and there for all she had done, but the more rational side of her told her to see what had happened to Bumblebee. But the moment she finally saw him, her rage consumed her.

"Airachnid!"

She spun around to lunge towards the spider femme, but she was already gone. Arcee knelt down next to Bumblebee's broken body and placed her hand on his head. Bumblebee's optics dimly swiveled back online and he looked up at her.

"'_C-Cee?" _he managed to faintly beep out.

"I'm here 'Bee. You're okay," she assured.

"_Hurts." _

"I know. Don't try to talk. I'm going to comm Ratchet so we can get you out of here and fixed."

Arcee glanced down at Bumblebee's wounds. Slashes marred his yellow armor and blue energon was still rapidly oozing from them. His right arm looked like it was about to fall off and there was a large gash on his chest that had her a bit worried.

"Just stay online for me until Ratchet can look over you, okay?"

"_O-okay." _

"Ratchet we need a GroundBridge and Bumblebee needs medical attention," Arcee said through the comm while keeping her optics on Bumblebee.

When the GroundBridge opened up Arcee carefully helped Bumblebee up and let him lean against her to support his weight. She couldn't help but notice how exhausted he looked. As the two of them headed through the GroundBridge, Arcee couldn't help but wish that Airachnid hadn't fled so she could have made her pay. It made no sense that Airachnid had fled like that when she could have attacked while she was checking on Bumblebee. She knew the reason couldn't be good, but she didn't have time to focus on that right now, Bumblebee was barely hanging on.


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in the show.**

* * *

The moment they stepped through the GroundBridge, Bumblebee collapsed. His optics flickered as he tried to get himself back up with no avail. Vaguely he could hear Arcee concernedly calling his name, but for the life of him he couldn't get himself to focus on her so he could respond. Everything had just become a muted, static filled, blur to him. It reminded him too much of Tyger Pax, which only made the entire situation worse for him. He tried to ignore it and tried to say something, anything that would lessen the worry that he was sure was coursing through the rest of Team Prime. Unfortunately he couldn't get any beeps to emit or any other sound for that matter. Bumblebee could feel someone lift him up right before everything faded to black.

Arcee felt panic set in the moment she saw Bumblebee go completely still and his optics go offline in Optimus' arms. She quickly followed her leader as he walked into the med-bay and gently placed Bumblebee down on the berth for Ratchet to start working on him. She watched the medic work diligently over the scout's frame, fear coursing through her at the thought of losing her little brother. Optimus seemed to sense her fear and placed a hand on her shoulder before leading her out of the room.

"Where's Jack?" she asked once they were out of the med-bay.

"Nurse Darby took him to the hospital not long ago to get the acid burns on his arm treated," Optimus answered. "Arcee what happened?"

"Airachnid just left. She could have attacked me while I was checking on Bumblebee, but she didn't. It makes no sense!"

"Do you believe she may go after Jack or Bumblebee again?"

"I don't know about Bumblebee, but I know she'll go after Jack again. I need to go talk to him," Arcee said looking towards the base's entrance.

"I will keep you informed of Bumblebee's condition."

* * *

Arcee arrived at the Darby home the exact same time as June and Jack. June warily looked at her, but Arcee really couldn't blame her. She was Jack's guardian, she was supposed to protect him and she had failed in that aspect. Jack had been captured and mildly tortured; it wouldn't surprise the femme if June wanted her to stay as far away from her son as possible. But Jack was a second little brother to her and she was going to make sure that Airachnid didn't get him again.

"Hey Arcee," Jack said as he walked up to her with June following closely behind.

"Hey partner," she replied. "I'm sorry about what happened Jack. I should have been there to stop Airachnid from taking you."

"It's okay Arcee, it wasn't your fault. How's Bumblebee?"

"Ratchet's working on him now. Hopefully he'll be okay."

Jack could hear the worry in Arcee's tone in regards to Bumblebee. The scout must have been in really bad shape if she wasn't even positive that he would be alright.

"How bad was he?"

"He was barely hanging on when I found him and he lost consciousness before Optimus could get him into the med-bay."

"Is that bad?"

"Going into stasis without a medic putting you in it is always a bad thing. Some 'bots never get out of it and some that do have permanent damage. But Bumblebee was only in stasis for a minute before Ratchet started repairs, so it might not affect him too badly as long as everything goes well with repairing him."

"Do you want to go back to base and make sure he's fine?"

"No. Optimus will tell me when Ratchet's done, I don't think I could stand being in there waiting. Besides Airachnid ran off and I have to make sure that she doesn't try to get you again."

"You think she's going to come after him again?" June asked placing a hand on Jack's shoulder.

"Yes," Arcee answered. "There was no reason for her to run off and Jack was her original target. But this time I'm not going to let her get him."

* * *

"Oh no," Ratchet muttered as he examined the gash on Bumblebee's chest.

At a first glance it had appeared to be mostly a superficial wound, but upon closer inspection it was clear to see that Airachnid had shot acid into the gash. The acid had gotten relatively close to the scout's spark chamber and had corroded many of the systems that were in front of it. The medic worked quickly to stop it from even having a chance of hitting his spark. Once he was certain that he wouldn't have to worry about any damage towards the youngling's spark, he examined the damage around the spark chamber. Fortunately while all of the systems were damaged, they were still functional. The full functionality of the systems though was another matter entirely. Some would only be able to function at a minimal level, which would put restrictions on what Bumblebee could do. There was actually going to be several restrictions for Bumblebee for a while once Ratchet was done with what repairs he could do now. His voice box had also suffered damage from the acid and his comm was completely corroded to a point to where it was completely useless. It would take time to make a new comm for the scout.

"How is he Ratchet?" Optimus asked as he entered the med-bay again.

The Autobot leader hadn't returned to the med-bay right away after Arcee had left the base. He knew that it was best to give Ratchet space when he was working on extensive repairs. While he was concerned for Bumblebee's wellbeing, he knew that the youngling was in capable servos. But now he had decided to check in and find out exactly how Bumblebee was so he could contact Arcee.

"He'll live," Ratchet answered. "But I'm going to have to attempt to build some new parts for him. Bumblebee is not going to like it, but he's going to have to remain here at base until I get them done. The systems that are barely functioning are going to weaken him until I can get them fully repaired."

"How long will that take?"

"It depends on if I have enough materials on hand to build the new parts. If I don't, I'm going to have to use Earth materials instead of Cybertronian ones, which most likely will not be as sturdy and could possibly not last very long."

"I am sure that you will do fine old friend. When will Bumblebee be out of stasis?"

"It's hard to say since I was unable to put him in a medical stasis. But his vitals are looking good and I've given him an injection of energon, so hopefully he'll come out of it as soon as I finish patching up the gash in his chest. I'm guessing that Arcee wants to be here when he wakes up?"

"I imagine that she does."

* * *

Arcee sighed as she stretched her tired limbs as she sat next to the medical berth that Bumblebee was laying on. She had been sitting next to his berth ever since she had returned to base with Jack and June. It had been hard for her to convince June that it would be better for her and Jack to stay at base for the night, but after some explaining on Arcee's part, she had caved in. Arcee needed to be there when Bumblebee woke up, but she couldn't just leave Jack and June unprotected. With them at the base, she could keep an eye on Jack while still being there for Bumblebee when he found out he was going to be stuck at base for the near future. Currently the two humans were sleeping while she watched over Bumblebee. Optimus and Ratchet had both suggested numerous times that she go recharge herself, but she had flat out refused.

A small twitch in Bumblebee's frame brought Arcee's attention back to him. She watched as his optics swiveled back online and looked around the room before landing on her face.

"'_C-Cee?" _Bumblebee winced in pain as he managed to get out a few beeps. _"W-what happened?" _

"Don't you remember?"

Bumblebee thought for a moment, _"I r-remember you finding me and bringing me back here. N-nothing after t-that." _

"You fell into stasis before we got you to Ratchet. Don't ever scare me like that again, you got that?"

"_S-sorry Cee, I d-didn't mean to scare you," _Bumblebee earnestly beeped right before Ratchet came into the room followed by Optimus.

"Bumblebee you're finallyup," Ratchet said in relief as he walked over to scan the scout's frame and to check his vitals. "I have some bad news for you Bumblebee. Several of your systems are too damaged to function properly and it will take me time to repair and rebuild them. Until they are repaired, you're going to have to remain at base."

Bumblebee was about to protest when Optimus cut in.

"Bumblebee we are doing this for your safety. I know that you do not like being cooped up here for long periods, but it is for your well-being."

"You're systems are weakened Bumblebee," Ratchet explained. "If you were away from the base for a while you would end up exhausting yourself and leaving yourself vulnerable for attack."

"_W-what about a drive every o-once in a while?" _Bumblebee asked. _"I-if someone g-goes with me?" _

"Maybe if you're recovering well," Ratchet answered.

While Bumblebee wasn't exactly satisfied with that answer, he decided that it was better than nothing. At least there was a chance that he would be able to get out of the base for a little while. If he was stuck in there for who knew how long, he would probably end up going insane from boredom.

"Now you should get some recharge Bumblebee," Ratchet instructed before turning his attention to Arcee. "And that goes for you too. You can see that he's fine, now go recharge Arcee."

"Fine," the femme huffed as she got up from her seat and headed towards her room.

Ratchet shook his head and headed out of the med-bay once she was gone with a quick warning to Bumblebee that if he didn't recharge he could forget about ever getting to go out for a drive. After Ratchet left Optimus had sat down where Arcee had previously been sitting to keep a watch over his scout for a little while.

"_O-optimus?" _

"Yes Bumblebee?"

"_A-am I really going to have to s-stay in the med-bay t-the whole t-time?" _


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in the show.**

* * *

Fortunately for Bumblebee, Ratchet did allow him to stay out of the med-bay on the condition that someone was watching him at all times. Since Jack was at school, Arcee had volunteered for the first shift of Bumblebee-sitting. It seemed to be the perfect way to keep an optic on her younger brother and to spend some time with him as well. Currently the youngling was making her watch some cartoons with him since he didn't feel up to doing anything else. While Arcee normally didn't care for cartoons, she had to admit that a few of them were somewhat interesting, not that she would ever say that out loud. The only reason she was watching them in the first place was so that Bumblebee would hopefully feel a little bit better about being stuck at base. She glanced over at the scout and saw that his optics were looking a little dim. Was he about to fall into recharge again?

"Are you getting tired 'Bee?"

"_No. Well maybe a little." _

"You need to recharge?"

"_I don't want to," _he whined. _"I'll wait and recharge whenever you and Bulk go get Jack and Miko." _

"If you say so."

"_Sorry you have to spend all of your time watching me today 'Cee." _

"Why are you apologizing? I volunteered to do this and it's not that big of a deal 'Bee. I've done this a lot…"

* * *

"'_Cee look!" _

_ Arcee looked down at the yellow sparkling in front of her who was trying to show her the drawing he made. Her little brother wasn't much of an artist, but it was easy to tell that the drawing was supposed to be the two of them based off of the colors. _

"_That's really good 'Bee. Is that supposed to be us?" she asked as she sat down in front of him. _

"_Uh-huh," Bumblebee nodded before toddling over to sit in her lap. "That me and that you. 'Cee keep?"_

"_Of course I'll keep it 'Bee. I'm going to need something to remember you by." _

"_Why have go 'Cee?"_

_Arcee sighed when Bumblebee asked her that question in the saddest tone he could. She was going to begin training to join the Autobot army the next day. Hers and Bumblebee's creators were both Autobots, but they hadn't joined the army because they had to take care of Bumblebee. At first she had felt the same way, after all she was the one who looked after the sparkling whenever her creators had to go out somewhere, like they had just a little while ago. But then she realized that she wanted to help end the war that was going on, so her little brother wouldn't have to fight in it whenever he was older. While her creators hadn't exactly been ecstatic by her decision, they understood it and respected it. Bumblebee on the other hand was just a sparkling and all he understood was that 'Cee was going away and leaving him behind. _

"_I already told you Bumblebee; I have to go help get rid of the mean Decepticons so you'll be safe. I would take you with me, but someone has to stay here and keep our creators company. And since you're the cutest little sparkling ever, you need to be the one that stays. Okay?" she asked giving him a hug._

"_But I don't want you go."_

"_I know you don't, but I'll come back. I promise. Now I think it's time for you to take a nap." _

"_But I not tired 'Cee," Bumblebee protested. _

"_Sure you aren't," Arcee replied. "But why don't you just try to recharge some anyway." _

_She picked the sparkling up and smiled when he snuggled up against her. So much for not being tired. She carried him to his room and was about to lay him down when she heard an explosion off in the distance. Bumblebee let out a startled cry as the room shook and looked up at her in fear. Their town was under attack. Arcee knew that there was nowhere for them to go to hide, so she and Bumblebee were trapped inside of their home until it was over. Hopefully their creators were someplace safe and would be just fine. Since they weren't there she knew it was up to her to keep Bumblebee calm._

"_Hey 'Bee how would you like to take your nap in my room today?" Arcee asked as she picked up one of his favorite toys to take with them. _

"_Why 'Cee?"_

"_Because it'll be fun," she replied as she quickly walked out of his room and headed into her own._

_Once they were inside she closed and locked the door before heading over to sit down on her berth. The moment she sat down the room shook as another explosion was set off, causing Bumblebee to start whimpering. Arcee held him closer to her in an attempt to make him feel safe. _

"'_Cee what that?"_

"_Don't worry about it 'Bee, just try to recharge." _

"_Scared, no leave 'Cee." _

"_I'm not going to leave," she promised. "I'll stay here with you while you recharge." _

_Apparently satisfied with that answer, Bumblebee snuggled up against her again and slowly fell into recharge. Arcee thought everything was going to be fine until she suddenly felt a sharp pang in her spark. Moments later Bumblebee jolted awake screaming as loud as his voice box would let him. When the pain in her spark and Bumblebee's screams didn't stop, she realized that something had happened to their creators. And most likely that something was that they had gone offline and now she and Bumblebee were all alone._

* * *

Arcee shook her head to bring herself out of the memory. Not long after that had happened, she had come across some of the other Autobots. They had originally tried to convince her to give Bumblebee up since she wouldn't be able to take care of him while she was in training. She had refused of course and fortunately for her and Bumblebee, another certain Autobot had volunteered to watch him whenever she wouldn't be able to. So everything had worked out in the end. She still had Bumblebee after all.

She glanced back over at the youngling and saw that he had slipped into recharge. She gave a small smile to his still form before getting up and headed out of the room and went to the med-bay. When she got in there she found Ratchet working on something, which Arcee assumed were parts for Bumblebee.

"Hey Ratchet, I'm heading out to go pick up Jack and Bumblebee's recharging."

"Fine, fine," the medic grumbled not even looking up from his work.

"When do you think Bumblebee will be able to go out of the base for a little while?"

"In a few days possibly," Ratchet replied. "It depends on how he's recovering. He's already stopped stuttering, which is good, but the rest of his systems will take time and like I said before I do have to build new parts for some of them."

Arcee nodded her head and walked away to head out of the base. Hopefully Bumblebee would be able to go on a drive or something soon. While he had been fine today, Arcee knew it was only a matter of time until he started to get restless. And when that happened… well it wasn't going to be pleasant for any of them.


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in it.**

* * *

"_Ratchet can I go outside the base yet?"_

Ratchet ignored Bumblebee's question for the sixth time that day. It would have been the seventh time if he hadn't answered the scout the first time he had asked. The medic knew that he couldn't really blame Bumblebee for getting impatient, this was the third day that he had been cooped up inside of the base after all, but his consistent pestering with the same question was getting old and annoying fast. He did a quick scan on the youngling. It probably wouldn't hurt him to go outside for a little while, so long as he had supervision and took a break from driving when he got tired. The only question was who would take him? The medic was working on parts for Bumblebee still and he was not about to quit his task just so he could take the scout outside, Optimus and Bulkhead were on patrols, so that just left Arcee. The femme was currently out somewhere with Jack, but would most likely be back soon. She seemed to be having a hard time staying away from the base for long periods of time with Bumblebee injured.

"_So can I?"_

"When Arcee gets back you can ask her to take you, but until then no."

"_Okay."_

Bumblebee walked away from the medic and went over to watch some more cartoons until Arcee came back, sparing a quick glance over at the base entrance. He really hoped that he was going to be able to get outside for a little while. He knew that he was starting to annoy his teammates, and he hated doing that, but he couldn't help it. It got so boring being stuck inside the base and he felt useless not being able to leave. He wanted to go out and help the others, not sit around and do nothing for days. It was about twenty minutes later when he finally heard the sound of an approaching motorcycle.

"'_Cee can you take me out for a drive?" _he asked the second she had transformed.

"Right now? I just got back from dropping Jack off at his house 'Bee."

"_Please? I've been stuck in here for three days and Ratchet said I could go if you take me." _

Arcee peered over at the med-bay, "You really said he can go out?"

"Yes as long as he's supervised and takes a break when he starts to get tired. Now take him so he'll finally stop asking!"

Bumblebee shot the medic an apologetic look before glancing back at Arcee with pleading optics. Arcee merely shook her head and gestured in the direction of the base's entrance. The youngling instantly perked up, transformed, and sped out of the base with Arcee following close behind.

"How much have you annoyed Ratchet today?" she asked once they were outside.

"_I don't know. I didn't mean to annoy him." _

"You just wanted to leave?"

"_Yeah. I was getting bored. Now come on, you wanna race?" _

"'Bee…"

"_Just on this road since no one is here. Please?" _

"Fine, but just this once."

* * *

Arcee wasn't really surprised that Bumblebee had ended up tiring himself out only ten minutes after racing. With that being said, she _had _expected that once Bumblebee got tired they would head straight back to base. Bumblebee had had another idea entirely. His idea had involved them pulling off the road far enough away where they wouldn't be spotted, so he could rest. Now he was recharging while she was stuck keeping watch to make sure no unwelcome visitors showed up. She was really looking forward to Ratchet being able to fully repair Bumblebee. What they were doing right now was dangerous. They could be spotted by humans, or worse, Decepticons. And she was really considering contacting Ratchet to have him set up a bridge so she could drag Bumblebee through it. The only thing keeping her from doing that was the fact that she knew that Bumblebee needed some rest and she really didn't want to disturb him. She smiled slightly looking at his recharging form. Bumblebee was pretty much curled up in a ball – something he had done ever since he was a sparkling – and he looked so innocent, which only reminded her of how much younger he was compared to the rest of them.

"I'm sorry all of this happened to you 'Bee," she whispered.

"Isn't that just precious," another voice cut in.

Before Arcee even had a chance to react, she found herself pinned to the plateau behind her by webbing. Airachnid walked into her line of sight mere moments and Arcee found herself glancing back at Bumblebee. He was still in recharge, completely oblivious to what was going on around him – something that was very bad given the current situation.

"No Jack? I'm disappointed, but I can make do with what we have here."

Arcee watched in horror as Airachnid took a few steps towards Bumblebee's recharging form.

"Stay away from him!" she shouted, which fortunately resulted in Bumblebee waking up.

The scout let out a startled beep upon seeing the Decepticon femme and immediately brought out his blasters. He fired several shots at Airachnid – knocking her back a few feet – before rushing over to Arcee to help her out of the webbing.

"_You okay 'Cee?"_

"I'm fine 'Bee, just hurry."

Right as Bumblebee was about to get her completely out of the webbing he heard the sound of a shot being fired and soon felt a sharp pain in his back – forcing him to pause in his attempt at freeing Arcee. Seizing the opportunity, Airachnid yanked him away from Arcee and shot a new web at the femme before putting Bumblebee in one.

"You are becoming very bothersome bug. I believe it's time that you join Arcee's past partners."

"No!"

"It's so nice to see that you care Arcee. That's going to make this so much more enjoyable."

"Airachnid don't!"

She was not about to watch her little brother be killed right in front of her optics. She had already seen Tailgate killed in front of her and she had seen Cliffjumper's zombified corpse. Arcee refused to add Bumblebee's name to that list.

"J-just kill me instead."

"'_Cee no!" _

"Just leave Bumblebee alone."

"Well if you insist…"

* * *

Arcee had been surprised when Airachnid had so willing agreed to kill her instead of Bumblebee at first, but it didn't take long to figure out why she had agreed to it. For one thing she had taken her time in torturing her, making sure that it was a painful experience. Now she was coated in energon and Arcee was amazed that she hadn't fallen into stasis lock or flat out deactivated yet. She was having an agonizingly slow death and the only thing that made it worse was that she had to watch Bumblebee watch her die. The scout was visibly shaking and his optics were filled with terror. She wanted to tell him that she was sorry and for him to turn off his optics so he wouldn't have to watch, but she couldn't find the strength to even do that, so she closed her own optics instead.

"'_Cee! Stay awake, the others will find us soon and then Ratchet can fix you. Please don't die 'Cee! Don't!" _


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in the show.**

* * *

To say that Optimus Prime was shocked at the scene that lay before him and Ratchet would be an understatement. When Ratchet had told him that Arcee's life signal was fading, he knew things would be bad, but neither of them had expected to see all of the energon coating the femme or see Bumblebee trembling while continuously begging Arcee to not die. Ratchet immediately went over and removed the webbing from Arcee's frame before scanning her. She was still alive, but barely. He would need to get her to his med-bay immediately if she was going to be able pull through.

"'_Cee don't die," _Bumblebee begged again.

"Bumblebee," Optimus said trying to gain the youngling's attention, before looking at Ratchet in concern when he failed to do so.

"He's in shock," the medic quickly explained. "We need to get Arcee back to base immediately. She's in critical condition."

The Autobot leader nodded before contacting Bulkhead to open up the GroundBridge. It took only a moment for the Bridge to appear and for Ratchet to go through it with Arcee. Bumblebee still appeared to be oblivious to everything that was going on around him, forcing Optimus to have to guide him back into the base. By the time the leader and scout were inside, Ratchet was already at work trying to repair Arcee.

"What happened?" Bulkhead asked walking over to Optimus.

"I am not sure. Bulkhead, would you go check on Jack and Nurse Darby? It may be best to bring them back here for a while."

"Sure thing," the former Wrecker replied before transforming and driving out of the base.

Optimus turned his attention back to his scout. Bumblebee was still trembling and energon was starting to pool around his optics. It was clear that the youngling needed to be comforted, so he could calm down. Bumblebee was also the only one at the moment who would be able to tell him exactly what had happened to Arcee.

"Bumblebee, could you please come with me?" Optimus asked, guiding the youngling out of the med-bay.

Once they were far enough away from the med-bay, Optimus bent down to where he was optic level with his scout and gently placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Can you tell me what happened?"

Bumblebee started to shake his head no, but ended up speaking anyway, _"I-I wanted to go out of the base for a while so me and 'Cee went out for a drive, but I got tired. I h-had 'Cee go far enough off the road to where no one would see us so I could recharge. When I woke up Airachnid was there and 'Cee was trapped in her webs. I tried to get her out, b-but Airachnid shot me in the back and trapped me too. S-she said that she was going to kill me, but 'Cee told her to kill her instead and to leave me alone… It's my fault Optimus!" _

"What happened was not your fault Bumblebee."

"_Yes it was!" _he wailed. _"If I hadn't of wanted to leave the base so badly my sister wouldn't be about to die! I could have come back to the base instead of recharging out there! I could have protested more when she was telling Airachnid to kill her! It's my fault!" _

"Bumblebee, stop blaming yourself," Optimus scolded. "You had no way of knowing that something like this would happen."

"_She made me watch Optimus. I had to watch as she tortured 'Cee and I had to watch as she started to die…" _at that the energon tears started to fall down his face. _"I don't want her to die Optimus…"_

While Bumblebee considered all of Team Prime to be his family, Arcee was the only one that was actually related to him. He knew next to nothing about their creators, having only been a sparkling when they offlined, and Arcee was the only one who could tell him anything about them, as well as being his only remaining connection to them. He wasn't sure if he could handle losing her. With that thought in mind, he hugged Optimus, the closest he had to a father – burying his head in his chest as well. While the Autobot leader could be rather stoic and distant at times, Bumblebee could always count on him being there – which was why he hadn't hesitated to go inside Megatron's mind to find the cure for the Cybonic plague to save him.

Optimus carefully placed a hand on Bumblebee's back in an attempt at comforting him. He knew that this was hard for the youngling and hoped that Ratchet would be able to save Arcee. But now there was a new concern as well. Airachnid knew that Arcee was close to Bumblebee now, the fact that the femme had wanted to die in his place would be enough for the Decepticon to know that. Was the youngling going to be her new target now? That was certainly a worrying thought.

"_Optimus she won't die right?"_

"Ratchet will do everything he can. He was able to bring you back from near death once; he may be able to do the same with Arcee."

"_Can we go check on her?"_

"I believe it may be best to give Ratchet space while he works Bumblebee. He will let us know when he is done."

* * *

It was three hours later before Ratchet finally told Bumblebee that he had done all that he could. Arcee was still unconscious and there was a chance that she would remain that way for a while, but Ratchet had said that he was fairly confident that she _would _wake back up, baring no complications. Bumblebee had decided to sit next to her berth until she did wake up. His sister had always done that whenever he was injured, it only seemed right to do it for her. He wasn't the only one staying next to her berth though. Jack had joined him as well, though the two of them had not said much to each other since Jack's arrival. Bumblebee almost wondered if the human teen blamed him for what happened to Arcee. He couldn't blame him if he did, he still felt at fault himself.

"Hey 'Bee are you okay?" Jack asked finally breaking the silence.

"_I don't know,"_ Bumblebee shrugged.

"Optimus told me that you kind of blame yourself for what happened to Arcee. I don't think she would want you to blame yourself."

"_She wouldn't," _Bumblebee agreed. _"But I can't help it." _

Carefully he reached out and gently touched Arcee's hand.

_I'm so sorry you had to go through all that 'Cee_, he thought to himself. _You shouldn't have had to protect me like that. I should have done better to protect you. Please don't leave me and please wake up soon. _


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I sadly do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in it.**

* * *

Pain radiating over her entire frame was the first thing Arcee was aware of. The second thing was the fact that she was alive. Truth be told she hadn't expected to survive her last encounter with Airachnid. She was fine with that though, knowing that at least Bumblebee, and hopefully Jack, would be safe. If she was dead, there would be no reason for Airachnid to go after either of them anymore. But at the same time she did feel guilty about leaving Jack without a guardian and leaving Bumblebee with no actual family members. At least now they would still have her around. Carefully she opened her optics and tried to sit up, before immediately realizing that that was a bad idea. Maybe death wouldn't have been such a bad thing after all, at least she wouldn't have been in this much pain.

"You might not want to move for another day or so," Ratchet spoke up, drawing Arcee's attention over to the monitor where the medic was standing. "I patched you up, but you received severe damage and it will take a while for you to fully heal."

"That bad, huh?" she asked, her voice quieter than usual.

"I will not tell Bumblebee this, but if Optimus and I had not arrived at your location when we did, you would not be here right now."

"Where is 'Bee?"

"Recharging, finally. You've been out for a week and in that amount of time Bumblebee has constantly blamed himself for what happened to you despite everyone else assuring him that it wasn't. He's also refused to recharge, even though he knows he needs to rest so he can heal. He's stressing out his damaged systems even more and had you not woke up, I would most likely have had to resort to putting him in stasis so he wouldn't do anymore harm."

"It was getting that bad?" Arcee asked, her voice filling with concern for her little brother.

"Yes."

Arcee knew that sometimes Bumblebee would blame himself when something went wrong. He had done it before when Megatron had invaded his mind and forced Bumblebee to bring him back, but he would listen to them after a while and realize that he wasn't the one to blame. The fact that he hadn't done so yet told the femme that it was going to be up to her to truly convince him that what happened to her was not his fault at all.

"I want to talk to him."

"Later. You can't get up and I'm not waking him from a much needed recharge."

The femme was about to say fine, when she noticed Bumblebee tiredly walking into the med-bay. His lack of recharge was clearly showing itself.

"Looks like you don't have to."

Ratchet turned and looked at the youngling, "Bumblebee! You need to recharge!"

"_Sorry Ratch, but…" _Bumblebee lifted his head and saw that Arcee was awake. _"'Cee!"_

"Hey, 'Bee," the femme forced herself to smile as the scout rushed to her side.

"_I'm so sorry 'Cee!" _

"What are you sorry about 'Bee? This wasn't your fault."

"_If I hadn't of wanted to leave the base so badly or if I hadn't of made us stay out when I got tired, Airachnid wouldn't have hurt you."_

"You know that wasn't your fault, so stop blaming yourself."

"_But…"_

"No buts, just stop."

It was then that Arcee noticed how dim Bumblebee's optics were.

"You need to recharge 'Bee."

"_I can't."_

"Why not?"

"_I keep seeing her hurt you. It's awful 'Cee, I don't like it."_

"Oh 'Bee…"

Arcee forced herself into a sitting position, wincing as she did so and receiving a glare from Ratchet as well, and reached her arms out towards Bumblebee. The youngling eagerly fell into her embrace, wrapping his arms around her the best he could without hurting her. Arcee gently stroked his back when she felt him trembling slightly. It was easy for her to see how much almost losing her bothered him.

"It's alright 'Bee, everything is going to be fine."

"_Y-you almost died."_

"But I didn't, I'm still alive."

"_Why'd you d-do it?_

"I wasn't going to let her kill you Bumblebee. She's already done enough to you. And I've already lost Tailgate and Cliffjumper, losing you or Jack would just be too much. You're my little brothers; I don't want to see anything happen to either of you."

"_But we don't want to lose you either."_

"I know."

Arcee continued to stroke his back, trying to give him as much comfort as she could. It wasn't long until Bumblebee had fallen into recharge, his arms still wrapped around her and half of his body lying on the floor. There was no way that could be comfortable for him.

"Hey Ratchet."

The medic glanced back at the femme and youngling and realized what she wanted. He sighed, but walked over and hoisted Bumblebee's recharging form up onto the medical berth with her. Amazingly the youngling didn't wake at the movement and instead simply snuggled closer to his sister.

"Thanks," she replied.

Arcee smiled at her slumbering brother one more time before falling into recharge herself.

* * *

When Optimus walked into the med-bay and saw Bumblebee and Arcee recharging on the medical berth, he smiled internally to himself. The sight of the two siblings was endearing to say the least. He was glad that Bumblebee had the confirmation that he needed to know that Arcee was going to be alright. He had grown increasingly worried about Bumblebee over the past week. The youngling had been ignoring his well-being and had been letting guilt consume him. He had never seen Bumblebee act like this before and the Autobot leader made a mental note to discuss it with Arcee later. They were going to have to find a way to help the youngling cope should a similar situation rise again.

"How is she recovering Ratchet?" Optimus asked as he walked over to his medic.

"Well enough to sit up despite me telling her that she shouldn't move for another day or so. I suppose it was for the best though. She was able to get Bumblebee to finally recharge, and with any luck has made him feel less guilty as well."

"Let us hope she has. I do not wish to see Bumblebee continue to plague himself with guilt."

"Neither do I… I would have feared to see his mental state had I not been able to save Arcee…"

Optimus remained silent, sharing the medic's sentiments. He hoped that they would never have to see how Bumblebee would react should they ever lose Arcee. He feared that the results would not be ones that any of them would ever want to see.

"Let us just be glad that you were able to save her, old friend."

"Optimus, I would like to suggest that you keep Bumblebee and Arcee off of active duty for another week. By then both of them should, as long as they listen and don't try to do anything reckless, be almost completely healed."

"I agree with keeping them off active duty. They have been through quite a lot lately; I believe that they both deserve a small break for a little while."

Ratchet glanced over the recharging forms of the brother and sister and thought of all that had happened.

"Yes, Optimus, they do."


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in it.**

* * *

Arcee carefully shifted on her berth, ignoring the lingering pain from her still healing wounds. After another day in the med-bay she had convinced Ratchet to let her finish her recovery in her own room. No offense to the medic, but she would much rather not have to listen to him telling her what she couldn't do because of her injuries all the time. Of course Bumblebee had practically moved into her room as well, refusing to leave her side. It was understandable though and she wasn't going to say anything to him. He needed comfort and she had to be the one to give it to him.

He was recharging again at the moment. Depriving himself of recharge for a week was really taking its toll on him. He was recharging most of the time now, only staying awake long enough for him to get some energon. Ratchet had said that it was good that he was recharging and most likely he would be recovering faster. Arcee gently rubbed circles on the back of Bumblebee's head, causing him to snuggle closer to her. She continued rubbing the circles, knowing that it gave him comfort and kept him calm. And when he occasionally woke up because he had had another nightmare about her dying, it helped lull him back to recharge. A small knock on her door took her attention away from her little brother.

"Come in," she said, loud enough to where whoever was outside would hear her, but quiet enough to where it wouldn't wake Bumblebee.

She was only mildly surprised when Optimus Prime walked in. Carefully she sat up, hiding her wince as she did so. While she wasn't as sore as she had been when she had first woke up after her near death experience, moving was still a big pain. Though apparently she wasn't as good at hiding her pain as she thought she was.

"Arcee, please do not strain yourself," Optimus said in concern.

"It's not that bad," she replied. "It was a lot worse before."

"How is Bumblebee?"

"Better. He's still recharging a lot, but he's not having nightmares as much as he did before."

"That is good," Optimus gazed at the recharging youngling. "Arcee, did Ratchet tell you how Bumblebee handled your near death?"

"He told me that he was letting guilt get to him and that he wouldn't recharge, to the point to where Ratchet was ready to sedate him."

"Bumblebee ignored his own well-being for the entire time you were unconscious. I have never seen Bumblebee act the way he did before and while I hope that something like this will not happen again, I believe we should discuss a way to help Bumblebee should it."

"Let me talk to 'Bee about it."

* * *

Bumblebee let out a quiet groan as Arcee gently shook him awake. Tiredly he onlined his optics and looked at her. She had an apologetic look on her face and Bumblebee had the feeling that she didn't really want to wake him up.

"_What is it 'Cee?" _ He quietly beeped.

"Sorry to wake you up 'Bee, but do you think you can stay awake for a little while so we can talk?"

The youngling nodded his head and sat up, _"I think so. What'd you wanna talk about?"_

"I want to talk about what happened."

"_Oh, okay." _

"Why didn't you believe the others when they told you it wasn't your fault?"

"_Because it was…"_

"No it wasn't," Arcee reminded. "Bumblebee you can't just assume something is your fault, just because you were there. I was going to be fine with dying if it meant that you would be safe, but you ended up neglecting what was good for you and made everyone worry. Bad things happen Bumblebee; you can't let them consume you."

"_You do. You've let Tailgate's and Cliffjumper's deaths haunt you."_

"Why do you think I'm telling you this!" she snapped. "I know what it's like Bumblebee and that's why I don't want you to do it. I don't want you to become like me. Our creators probably would be disappointed with me."

"_What were our creators like?"_

"They were nice and they loved us a lot. They would do anything to make sure we were safe. They weren't going to fight in the war, even though they were Autobots, because they wanted to be the ones to take care of you."

"_I wish I'd got to know them."_

"So do I," Arcee quietly replied.

"_I'm sorry I made everyone worry 'Cee. I just couldn't help it. I was worried that I was going to lose you and I don't know what I would do without my big sister." _

At that, Arcee wrapped her arms around Bumblebee. She wasn't sure what she would do without him, and she was going to have to be careful so he wouldn't lose her. But she knew better than anyone that she couldn't prevent death from happening. And she had told Optimus that she would think of a way to help with Bumblebee, should something bad happen again.

"'Bee I need you to promise me something."

"_What?"_

"If something happens and I get hurt bad again, promise me that you won't act like you did this past time. Recharge and let the others help you. Just don't do something that's going to end up hurting yourself."

"_I'll try. But please don't get hurt again 'Cee! Promise me that you won't!" _

"You know I can't promise that 'Bee. As much as I want to, I can't," the femme shook her head. "But I will promise you that I'll do my best to not get hurt. And I promise you that you won't be alone if the worst ever happens. You'll always have the rest of Team Prime, and the humans too."

"_Still wouldn't be the same without you."_

"I know, but you would still be alright and that's what I care about."

Bumblebee leaned closer into Arcee's hug. Even though Arcee couldn't promise him that she would never get hurt again, he could live with the promise that she would do her best to make sure that she wouldn't. He felt that in turn, that he should make her a similar promise.

"_Well, then I promise that I'll do my best to make sure that I won't get hurt either." _

"Good," Arcee smiled slightly. "Now go back to recharge so you'll be all better soon."

* * *

Once Bumblebee was back in recharge Arcee slipped out of her room and headed towards Optimus'. She was careful to make sure that Ratchet didn't see her. She frankly didn't want to hear the medic fussing about how she shouldn't be up walking around yet and she knew that the fact that she was only going to be up for a few minutes wouldn't pacify him either.

"Arcee what are you doing up?" Optimus asked when the femme arrived at his door.

"I talked to Bumblebee. He's promised me that he'll try not to act like he did this time again. I think he'll do his best, but if the worst ever does happen, remind him that I wouldn't want him to act like that and keep a close watch on him. He'll need comfort."

"Thank you Arcee. I believe that you had better get back to your room before Ratchet sees you, otherwise he may suggest that you remain off-duty for a longer period of time."

"You never saw me Optimus," Arcee replied walking away. There was no way she was going to be off-duty any longer than she had to.


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Same as always. I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in the show.**

* * *

The moment Optimus placed her back on active duty, Arcee began planning. She knew that she wanted to spend as much time with Jack as she could. She knew that she was being overprotective, but after everything that had happened recently she didn't want her human partner out of her sight. Unfortunately being off active duty prevented her from fulfilling her duties as Jack's guardian. Now she was making up for it… and she was dragging Bumblebee along with her. Her little brother also wouldn't be leaving her sight for the time being. Bumblebee didn't seem to mind though. He wanted to keep an optic on her, just as much as she wanted to look over him. And she wanted her two little brothers to have some bonding time, that didn't involve them trying to escape from Airachnid. Currently though, she and Bumblebee had to wait for Jack to get out of school.

"_Can't I just go for a little drive around 'Cee? I'll be back in just a minute,_" Bumblebee asked for what felt like the thousandth time to Arcee. Fortunately no one was around to notice the fact that a muscle car was beeping and a motorcycle was talking.

"I already said no 'Bee. You're staying here with me until Jack gets out. Then we can go for a drive."

"_You're no fun."_

"If being no fun means you stay safe, that's fine with me."

Arcee could practically hear her younger brother groan at her words. She knew that her overprotectiveness was going to annoy him for quite a while. After all, Bumblebee did like to prove that he could take care of himself. But she had nearly lost him, and if that wasn't a good enough reason to be protective she had no idea what would be.

"_Hey 'Cee guess what."_

"What?"

"_Raf will be back in two more days!" _

"I'm guessing you're excited."

"_Yeah, I've missed him a lot. But I'm sort of glad he wasn't here the past week. He would have been really worried."_

"Yeah he probably would have been. I know I was worried about you."

"_I was worried about you too," _Bumblebee nudged the femme in his vehicle mode.

"So are you going to tell him about what happened?"

"_Yeah, I will. It's over now and he'd probably want to know what happened. I know that I'd want to know if he had gotten hurt and I wasn't there."_

"Raf is lucky to have you as a friend."

Before either of them could say anything else, students started to walk out of the school. It was only a few minutes later that Jack came out and walked over to the two of them. A little bit after that, the trio was on the road heading back closer to the Autobot base. Arcee could tell that Bumblebee was about to complain when he noticed that they were going to the base instead of for a drive like he had wanted, so to appease him she veered off the road and started to drive to where they would be out of sight so she and Bumblebee would be able to transform.

"I thought we were going back to the base," Jack spoke up.

"_We've been stuck there for weeks," _Bumblebee said which caused the human to look at Arcee for a translation.

"We've been stuck in the base for too long, 'Bee needs a break from being in there," Arcee explained. "I do too."

"Boring?"

"Very. We were stuck in my room the entire time. And Bumblebee was recharging pretty much the entire time, so I had nothing to do."

"_That's not my fault. I couldn't help it."_

"I know that 'Bee, I wasn't blaming you," Arcee smiled at the scout that was now sitting on the ground next to her before looking back at Jack. "I'm sorry I didn't get to see you much the past week."

"Me too, Ratchet wouldn't really let me come in to see you and 'Bee because he said that you needed to rest."

"Figures," the femme shook her head. "I also wanted us to come out here so you two could spend some time together." She looked at both Bumblebee and Jack after she finished speaking, both of whom looked a little confused as to what they were supposed to do.

_This might take a while_, Arcee thought to herself.

* * *

Fortunately after a little coaxing, Arcee had been able to get Jack and Bumblebee to talk to each other, with her translating for Bumblebee. Their topics mainly stayed on movies and videogames, clearly not knowing what else they could talk about, but that was fine with the femme. After all, they were talking, and that was really all she wanted. About ten minutes later, they were done and Arcee let Bumblebee go for a drive like he had been wanting – with her and Jack naturally following close behind.

"So is Bumblebee going to be coming back to my house tonight too?" Jack asked as they followed the scout.

"No, why do you ask?"

"You act like you're going to freak out the second he's out of sight," the teen pointed out. "I just kind of assumed."

"I know that he'll be safe at the base. Optimus and Ratchet aren't going to let him leave there alone anyway. Though I don't think 'Bee's realized that yet – he hasn't started complaining."

Arcee dreaded the moment when Bumblebee realized that they were _all _keeping a closer optic on him. Her little brother wasn't exactly fond of being treated like he couldn't take care of himself. And it wasn't like any of them thought that, quite the contrary they all knew that Bumblebee was very skilled as a scout and a fighter. It was his age that made them want to protect him. Truthfully if it wasn't for the fact that they needed the youngling in fights, and the fact that Bumblebee would find his way out there anyway, Arcee was fairly certain that Bumblebee wouldn't be on active duty at all.

"'Bee it's time for you to get back to base."

"_Really? Fine, I'll drive back now."_

"No driving. GroundBridge."

"_What!?" _the scout skidded to a halt. _"Why do I need to use the GroundBridge? We're only like ten minutes from the base."_

"Doesn't matter, you're still having Ratchet GroundBridge you there. I'll call Optimus if you try to drive back."

"_That's not fair 'Cee! I'm not a sparkling; you and Optimus don't have to treat me like one!"_

Arcee was fairly certain that she would have rolled her optics if she weren't in her vehicle mode.

"Wanting to keep you safe after everything that's happened is not treating you like a sparkling," she retorted. "And it's not just me and Optimus, I'm pretty sure that Ratchet and Bulkhead agree with us too."

"_Fine," _Bumblebee grumbled before contacting Ratchet for a bridge.

As he walked through it, Arcee let out a small sigh at his irritated form. She was glad that she wouldn't have to deal with him again until tomorrow. Of course she was doubtful that Bumblebee would complain to Optimus about their decision, so there was a chance that he would wait until she returned tomorrow to vent. Arcee just hoped that he would be over it by then.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in it. **

**A/N: This story is only 9 reviews away from reaching 100. I'd really love to reach that number, can you guys help me out? Please?**

* * *

Bumblebee sat down on his berth, irritation dripping off of him. Why did he have to be the one that everyone worried about? Sure he had gotten hurt, but Arcee had almost _died_ and yet she was allowed to be out on her own and she didn't have to use the GroundBridge. It was because he was a youngling; that much he knew. Past experiences had shown him that whenever an older Autobot found out how young he was, they seemed to start thinking that they needed to keep a closer optic on him. Well in most cases at least – there were always some who didn't think that protecting him was all that necessary. Bumblebee could understand where the ones that felt like they needed to protect them were coming from though. Most of his generation had been wiped out during the war, and as a part of the last generation on Cybertron, some of the older generations were worried about losing all of them. But still, Team Prime knew him. They knew that he could take care of himself for the most part. Plus he had been injured before, so why were they being so overprotective now?

_Arcee, that's why_, Bumblebee realized.

After all who had hurt him – Airachnid, that's who. After the Decepticon femme had arrived on Earth, Arcee had become a lot more protective of Jack. Obviously she was afraid of losing another partner. And now Airachnid knew that she was close to him. Therefore his older sister had decided that she had to go into overprotective mode to keep him safe. And she had managed to get Optimus to go along with it. Ratchet agreed with them because he worried that one day Bumblebee would get injured to a point where he wouldn't be able to fix him; that much Bumblebee could guess on. He had no idea why Bulkhead would be agreeing with them.

Well it didn't matter; he would put an end to it as soon as Arcee returned in the morning. He would get her to understand that she didn't need to be so worried about him. He laid down and curled up into a ball before falling into recharge.

* * *

A soft stroking on the back of his head was what brought Bumblebee out of recharge the next morning. He knew instantly that it was Arcee and he had to force himself to not snuggle up closer to her like he normally would. All that would do is probably have Arcee call him a sparkling, and that certainly wasn't going to help his case. Instead he onlined his optics, sat up, and fixed his sister with the most annoyed look that he could muster. Arcee looked a little disappointed, most likely hoping that he wasn't going to be mad at her overprotectiveness.

"_Why don't you think that I can take care of myself?" _

"I know that you can take care of yourself 'Bee, I just worry about you."

"_You worry too much! I'm not a sparkling 'Cee, you shouldn't keep treating me like one."_

"I'm not treating you like a sparkling. I'm treating you like a kid – which you are. I just don't want anything bad to happen to you again 'Bee. And _she _knows that I'm close to you now. She'll try to hurt you, just like she tries to hurt Jack. I can't let that happen. I'm your older sister; I'm supposed to protect you."

"_Why did you have to get everyone else to be protective too? That's not fair to me."_

"It's not like I made them," Arcee pointed out. "Optimus worries about everyone on the team, even if he doesn't always show it. And we both stressed Ratchet recently, so he doesn't want to have to repair us again anytime soon. Bulk just went along with it because everyone else was."

"_Well why do you get to go out by yourself? You got hurt worse than I did," _Bumblebee pointed out.

"Yeah well I'm not a youngling in case you haven't noticed."

"_It's still not fair," _the youngling crossed his arms.

There were many things that Arcee could have said in response to Bumblebee's comment, but most of those would most likely only result in him getting more annoyed at her. So instead she went with the one that would cause the least amount of fuss.

"You're right, it's not fair. But it's also not fair that you have to fight in a war, or that we lost our creators, or that I lost Tailgate and Cliff. We just want to keep you safe 'Bee. Why can't you just accept that?"

"_Because I want to be treated like the rest of you, that's why. I don't want everyone to worry about me more than anyone else. Why can't you just accept that?"_

Arcee turned her head away from Bumblebee and remained silent. She was really starting to miss the times when Bumblebee hadn't minded being protected. He had been easier to take care of then. Now it seemed like he just wanted to make things as difficult as possible for her. Of course she knew that he wasn't intentionally making things difficult, but it didn't change the fact that he was, and she wasn't sure what to do about it. Bumblebee looked at Arcee, slightly wondering why she wasn't answering him. Was she going to be mad at him now? He hoped not, but really she did need to realize that he wanted to be treated like everyone else, not like he was defenseless.

"Why can't you just let us protect you? Why do you have to make this so difficult?" Arcee's voice was barely a whisper and Bumblebee almost didn't hear what she said.

"_Make what so difficult?"_

"Keeping you safe… Like I said before, I'm supposed to protect you. You should just let me and get used to it."

"_You're not going to stop no matter what I say, are you?" _Bumblebee deflated slightly in defeat.

"No, I'm not."

"_Fine…"_

He laid back down and snuggled up next to Arcee, much to her surprise. If she wasn't going to stop being overprotective, he may as well make the best of it. Plus he sort of wanted to go back to recharge. He wasn't sure why, but he was still tired.

"What are you doing?"

"_Nothing."_

"Are you still tired? You've already recharged longer than you normally do."

"_Maybe a little," _he admitted.

Arcee wrapped an arm around her little brother and gently rubbed his back. It worried her a little bit that Bumblebee was still so tired. Just the other day he had seemed to be back to his normal recharging time and now it was like how he was when he had been injured. Maybe she was overreacting, but she half way wondered if she should have Ratchet do a few scans on him. She took another look at Bumblebee and saw that he was already back in recharge – his head resting on her. Her worries would just have to wait until he woke up again.

* * *

Jack walked down the hallway of the Autobots' base, wondering what was taking Arcee so long. She had gone to talk to Bumblebee the moment they had arrived – and that had been an hour ago. She had said that Bumblebee was probably mad or annoyed with her so she needed to talk to him. He supposed that that could take a while, but he hadn't heard anything that sounded like arguing, so he thought that their discussion was likely to be over. When he approached Bumblebee's room, he saw his guardian/partner sitting on the scout's berth with Bumblebee curled up next to her.

"Umm, Arcee?"

"You can come in Jack."

The teen walked over and climbed up onto the berth where he noticed that Bumblebee was in recharge.

"I didn't want to wake him up by leaving," the femme gestured to the scout's head that was laying on her. "I really thought he would have woken back up by now."

"Why is he still recharging?"

"No clue. Maybe he just didn't recharge much before… but I think I'm going to have Ratchet do some scans just to be on the safe side."

Arcee contacted Ratchet over the comm. to ask him to check on Bumblebee. Waiting for her brother to wake up was just making her worry more and putting her mind to ease sooner than later, seemed like a good thing to do. Ratchet arrived in the room only a few minutes later and immediately started to run a scanner over Bumblebee's recharging form. Arcee watched as a perplexed look came across Ratchet's face while he looked at the results from the scanner.

"What's wrong?" Arcee questioned, worrying starting to build in her again.

"One of the replacement parts that I built for him isn't integrating properly. Normally it wouldn't be much of a problem, but this part is near some vital components so it's affecting all of him. It won't cause him any damage, but he may not feel quite himself until it finally integrates."

"What do you mean by not feeling himself? " she asked.

"How does Bumblebee normally act when he first gets injured, or sick?"

"He acts tired and never wants to be alone…"

"Well there's your answer. You shouldn't have to worry about him wanting to go out for drives or anything else; he won't feel up to that. Just make sure that he recharges and gets some energon. He'll be back to himself in a few days."

Arcee glanced back down at her brother. The next few days were sure to be interesting.


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers: Prime or any of the characters in it.**

* * *

_Arcee felt something inside of her clench as she waited for Bumblebee to get back from his mission. By no means was it his first, but she still worried nonetheless. Tailgate constantly told her that she didn't need to worry so much about the youngling, that he would be fine, but for some reason the femme never really believed him. This was her little brother after all; in her mind he was practically still a sparkling. He would still come in her room and sleep in her berth when he had a nightmare. If she had had her way, he never would be going on missions in the first place. He was still too young. Unfortunately for her, Bumblebee had made up his mind to help in the war and had somehow convinced some of the higher ranks to let him begin training – one of which happened to be Optimus Prime, which made arguing pointless. _

"_Hey 'Cee, he's back," Tailgate said, walking into Arcee's room. "Before you start freaking out, he's fine… well mostly fine. From what I heard he had a small injury on his leg, but it's nothing major. We all get small injuries all the time, so you don't need to worry."_

_ Despite the words of her partner, Arcee rushed out of the room and ran straight to the med-bay where Bumblebee would be having his injury treated. The moment her brother saw her, he immediately adverted his gaze. He was nervous, that much she could tell from both looking at him and feeling his nervousness seeping into their bond. _

"_Are you okay," she asked._

"_I'm fine 'Cee," Bumblebee quietly replied. _

"_Are you sure? You're being pretty quiet."_

"_I was scared…" his voice was barely a whisper. _

_ Arcee sat down on the berth next to him and pulled him onto her lap. He was still a little bit smaller than her, and would stay that way until they had enough parts to give him his next upgrade. Arcee was fine with waiting though. As long as Bumblebee was smaller than her, he would be easier to comfort. She would find a way to continue comforting him even when he was bigger than her, it would just be a little more difficult. _

"_Why were you scared?" Arcee gently asked as Bumblebee curled up closer to her._

"_I didn't think I was going to have to fight. The other missions I've been on were just to deliver something and come back, there wasn't any fighting. This time there was, and it scared me."_

_ Arcee could remember her first time having to fight. As much as she hated to admit it, it had scared her too – mostly because she knew that if something bad happened to her, Bumblebee would be all alone. When she had gotten back from that mission, she had held Bumblebee close to her and wouldn't let go of him. He had still been a sparkling at the time, so he hadn't protested or asked her why she wouldn't put him down – he had simply been glad for the attention. _

"_You're okay now though," she soothed. "You know, why don't you take a break from missions for a while and just train some more. That way you'll be more prepared next time."_

There were times when Arcee wished she could still convince Bumblebee to take breaks from missions. One of those times was now. While Bumblebee's part was still trying to integrate, the femme half way wanted to make sure he stayed out of any missions for a while once he was feeling better, just so he wouldn't end up getting injured again anytime soon. Of course she knew that Bumblebee would protest and never agree to it. The only way he would have to stay out of the field was if Ratchet or Optimus decided to keep him out. And she was slightly doubtful that either of them would do that.

She could talk to Ratchet, and ask if he could keep Bumblebee off active duty for just a little while after he had recovered, just to make sure that nothing else ended up being wrong. At the very least that would have her worry a little less for a while if Ratchet agreed. Arcee glanced over to make sure that Bumblebee was still in recharge, before getting off of his berth and leaving the room. She found Ratchet in the main room of the base, looking at the monitors.

"Ratchet?"

"If you're asking about him again, Bumblebee is fine, Arcee."

"I know… Could you keep him off active duty for a little while once he's better?"

"What?" Ratchet turned around to look at the femme, confusion on his face.

"I want him to be off active duty for a little while – just in case something else is wrong."

"Is that really the reason? Or is it that you're just being too overprotective of him?" Ratchet questioned. "You've got to stop doing that Arcee; it's not good for Bumblebee. He's going to become too dependent on you at this rate."

Arcee remained silent. She knew she was overprotective, but she needed to be. It was her job to keep Bumblebee safe, and how would she do that if she wasn't overprotective? If she didn't protect him, she felt like their creators would be disappointed in her. Arcee knew that they wouldn't have wanted Bumblebee to be fighting in the war.

"Me being overprotective isn't going to hurt him."

"And if Bumblebee gets to the point where he has to rely on you to protect him, what will happen if something happens to you? It's time to let him grow up Arcee. He can't remain a youngling forever."

"I know that, and he is growing up…"

"Then stop trying to prevent it. When Bumblebee's part integrates, he'll be put back on active duty if he feels like it and I don't detect anything else wrong. I'm not going to tell Optimus to keep him off just because you're worried something will happen to him."

"You make it sound like I shouldn't be worried about him getting hurt or killed."

"I didn't say that. You need to worry less though Arcee, it's not good for you."

"Easier said than done…" Arcee muttered as she turned around to go back to Bumblebee's room.

_ The sound of a crying sparkling woke Arcee from her recharge. Gently she picked up the small sparkling that was laying next to her. She understood why Bumblebee was crying. It hadn't been long since their creators were offlined and they were still suffering from the broken spark bond, unfortunately it affected Bumblebee worse than it did her. He was still too young to understand that their creators weren't coming back, and he still asked for them constantly. _

"_Shh, you're okay 'Bee," she tried to soothe. _

_ Bumblebee's cries slowly turned to whimpers as he snuggled into her chest._

"_Miss creators," he said quietly. _

"_I know. I miss them too."_

"'_Cee no leave?"_

_ Arcee hated that Bumblebee actually had to ask her if she would leave. What she hated more, was the fact that several of the Autobots were telling her that she should give Bumblebee up and let someone else raise him. She understood their thinking – if she was going to go through with her training to be a solider, it would be hard to take care of a sparkling. But she couldn't give Bumblebee up. He needed her… and she needed him. If he wasn't with her, Arcee would worry about him constantly. She wasn't sure she would be able to stand not being able to see him and knowing what was happening to him._

"_No, I won't leave you 'Bee. You're going to stay with me, and I'll make sure that nothing hurts you," Arcee stated, determination clear in her tone._

"_I keep 'Cee safe," Bumblebee chimed in._

"_I'm sure you will," Arcee smiled at him right before the sparkling let out a small yawn. "Go back to recharge 'Bee."_

"_Love 'Cee."_

"_I love you too."_

"_Where did you go?" _Bumblebee tiredly asked when Arcee walked back inside his room.

"I just went to talk to Ratchet."

"_Oh."_

"He told me that I need to stop being as overprotective towards you and to let you grow up."

"_Well you do. But I know you don't want to."_

"No, I don't. But it doesn't look like I have much of a choice," the femme crossed her arms.

"_I'm sorry 'Cee, but really I can take care of myself. And it's not like you have to completely stop protecting me, if that makes you feel better. You just have to stop being too protective."_

"I'm not even sure I know how to do that."

"_Well umm… how about every time you're being too overprotective, I tell you and then you stop. That way you can figure it out."_

"I don't have any better ideas, so I guess we can give it a try."

"_Good. Besides 'Cee, I've already saved you so many times. I don't know how you haven't figured out that I don't always need you to protect me."_

"You've only saved me twice."

"_Twice so far. I bet I'll save you a bunch of other times too."_

"Maybe you will."

"_And you'll probably save me a bunch of times too."_

Arcee could only hope that as long as Bumblebee had to fight, she would be around to keep him safe.

"_Oh and just so you know 'Cee, I'm already feeling better."_

"Great."

Well at least she would have a few more hours before she had to worry again. It was going to be hard to learn to let go, but she realized that this was just another phase in their life together.

* * *

**A/N: And this brings us to the end of 72 Hours. I want to think everyone for reading/reviewing/alerting this story. It means a lot! :)**


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